Mavs' high hopes come with questions

[kriD]

Mavs' high hopes come with questions

By EDDIE SEFKO / The Dallas Morning News

When the Mavericks open the NBA regular season Tuesday, they will have a ton of hope.

They hope Josh Howard continues to rise as one of the league's new, young players to watch. They hope Marquis Daniels shakes off his star-crossed second season and becomes the do-everything standout he's capable of being.

They hope Jason Terry can be the strong second option offensively. They hope Devin Harris learns the game so he can unleash all that raw ability.

And they hope Erick Dampier gets consistent and Doug Christie stays healthy.

It's a lot to hope for.

The Mavericks, starting with coach Avery Johnson, have widespread optimism that improving this team from within is going to pay dividends.

But what is reasonable to expect from so many players who are being leaned upon to play better than they did a year ago?

"What it boils down to is you are depending on guys who are unproven," former Mavericks great Derek Harper said.

"We're talking about a lot of players who have to step up. I think they can. But the question is, can they step up consistently?

"It's one thing to do it when nobody expects you to. It's another thing when you have to go out and do it because it's expected of you."

Harper knows. He remains the epitome of a player who worked to improve his game. He raised his scoring average in each of his first eight seasons with the Mavericks.

At some point, young, unproven players become steady, sturdy contributors on good teams. Or maybe they don't. That's the issue.

Three years ago, San Antonio wasn't exactly sure what it had with Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker. There was a time when Detroit's Chauncey Billups and Ben Wallace were unproven.

Rare is the player who pulls a Dwyane Wade or LeBron James and jams on the accelerator from the start.

Do the Mavericks have a cluster of players ready to make the difficult leap? The 82-game grind will give clues. Then the playoffs will cement the answer.

"The only way to improve on whatever kind of year you have had is to go out and work," Harper said. "Obviously, all of these guys have huge upsides. And from what I've heard from Avery, they've all put in the effort to hone their skills."

Howard and Daniels are entering their third seasons. This typically is when NBA players prove they can be more than middle-rung achievers.

Harris is in his second season, but his talent is so intoxicating that he will be asked to do more.

Terry is older, but he is coming off a season in which he distributed the ball as much as he shot it. This year, he will have to be a scorer in support of Dirk Nowitzki.

Numbers might not tell the story in each case. But the coaches will know. Fans will be able to tell, too.

"It's fair to expect good improvement out of all those young guys," assistant coach Del Harris said. "And because there's a lot of them, it gives you hope for a good collective rise.

"I think when you have a team that's largely veteran, where your key players are 28 or 30 or more, you know what you've got. They don't get a whole lot better at that time in their careers. But we've got guys still on the rise."

But just as players must broaden their horizons, they also must know their limitations. That's part of the growth process.

"Writing it on paper won't make it happen," Jerry Stackhouse said. "It's a matter of doing it. The guys are on a platform to catapult to that next level. All of them.

"But guys are what they are. You want to see guys improving. But it doesn't necessarily translate into numbers in the box score. Sometimes, it's intangibles.

"Sometimes, it's getting your basketball IQ up. You're not any quicker. It's just about having another year under your belt and understanding what you're looking at a little better than you did the year before."

But the Mavericks are betting that what they've seen from their up-and-comers in training camp and the exhibition season will continue in the regular season.

"It's reasonable to expect big strides, because those guys have worked extremely hard in the off-season," Christie said. "Josh is vastly improved, and I'd say the same thing with Marquis and Devin. A lot is going to be expected of them in the regular season. We've seen strides. And I think you'll continue to."

If not, the Mavericks' blueprint for this season is going to suffer.

[Murphy3]

My biggest concern/question is with Dirk. I don't think he played particularly well last year under AJ. I also don't think he's looked too good this pre-season. I'm a bit concerned about him losing his identity under A.J.

[rakesh.s]

Originally posted by: Murphy3
My biggest concern/question is with Dirk. I don't think he played particularly well last year under AJ. I also don't think he's looked too good this pre-season. I'm a bit concerned about him losing his identity under A.J.

trade stackhouse and van horn for ROLE players.. This will automatically free up shots for Dirk.

Unless something changes, Dirk could struggle to average 20 ppg this year, especially since Avery wants to play ugly ball.

[Thespiralgoeson]

Originally posted by: rakesh.s

trade stackhouse and van horn for ROLE players.. This will automatically free up shots for Dirk.

I'm not opposed to trading Stack in the future, but he IS a role player.

Unless something changes, Dirk could struggle to average 20 ppg this year, especially since Avery wants to play ugly ball.

Nonsense. People, it's the freaking preseason! Have you never followed the preseason before? Pretty much everybody takes it easier in the preason, most of them play not to get hurt. The only guys out there that are busting their asses are the guys who are still trying to earn their minutes.

I'll be shocked if Dirk averages less than 25 this year.

[EricaLubarsky]

Mavs' high hopes come with questions

I've got high hopes and my question is whether we are getting our championship this year or next

[alby]

Originally posted by: EricaLubarsky

I've got high hopes and my question is whether we are getting our championship this year or next

both?

[Stitch Jones]

Originally posted by: Thespiralgoeson

I'm not opposed to trading Stack in the future, but he IS a role player.

Nonsense. People, it's the freaking preseason! Have you never followed the preseason before? Pretty much everybody takes it easier in the preason, most of them play not to get hurt. The only guys out there that are busting their asses are the guys who are still trying to earn their minutes.

I'll be shocked if Dirk averages less than 25 this year.

I don't care how many Dirk scores if it translates into wins. If running Dirk from the post more brings his scoring average down (and possibly regular season wins) but makes us harder to defend in the playoffs, then so be it. I expect that Quis, Josh and Jet can pick up the scoring slack. A full season of KVH will help there too.

[FilthyFinMavs]

Yea as of right now I could careless about Dirk's points or shot attempts. I want to see him doing the little things like assists, rebounding, blocks etc. But i'm saying this now thinking our offense is gonna be decent this season. Outside of Jet and Dirk i'm a little uneasy about our offense this season. We may need Dirk to put up 26-30 just to win a game this year. If so, things aren't going to look to good for us in Mavs land.

[Eman]

Our offense will be fine. Stackhouse and KVH can score in bunches, Marquis can drive with the best of them, Devin will score more this year. We have more of a post offensive game this year but we still have Terry, Devin, KVH, Dirk who can all hit from downtown with a high percentage. When our collective shots aren't working, stack and Marquis and dirk can go down low. And we have a new back up center who isn't afraid, like Bradley was, to take it strong to the hoop.

Our passing will be better with Christie and with Devin in his second year.

Defense should be better. Last night I saw times when both of Detroit's best scorers were being covered and basically shut down by Christie and Howard, our two solid defenders, and if anyone came inside, Diop would swat there shot back. .........I'm very excited.

[grndmstr_c]

Please, let's refrain from mentioning or alluding to Diop when professing faith in our offense. I'm pretty happy with him thus far, but he is weak offensively, and does not represent any kind of upgrade over Shawn on that end of the court.

[EricaLubarsky]

I'd consider Diop quite a downgrade offensively from Bradley. Diop is as bad as Dampier at catching the ball, much worse than Dampier at inside scoring and Diop's jumper is pathetic compared to Bradley's refined jumper.

If people think that Dampier is just a putback guy, then Diop is the definition of one.

[DubOverdose]

Diop is one of the worst offensive players of all time. We shouldn't expect anything of him on offense other than offensive rebounding.

[Murphy3]

Originally posted by: FilthyFinMavs
Yea as of right now I could careless about Dirk's points or shot attempts. I want to see him doing the little things like assists, rebounding, blocks etc. But i'm saying this now thinking our offense is gonna be decent this season. Outside of Jet and Dirk i'm a little uneasy about our offense this season. We may need Dirk to put up 26-30 just to win a game this year. If so, things aren't going to look to good for us in Mavs land.

I'm not really concerned about his points or shot attempts either. I'm concerned about his efficiency.

[FilthyFinMavs]

Originally posted by: Murphy3

I'm not really concerned about his points or shot attempts either. I'm concerned about his efficiency.

Yea I haven't kept up with Dirk much this offseason. I hear it isn't looking to good for him this preseason. Not sure how he did when he played for Germany. Doesn't Dirk do this every season though? Usually stinks it up in the preseason and puts up a 24/10 season? I honestly think he'll be fine. I'm worried about the 40% from the field shooters we have on this team. I don't like the idea of Stack being depended on to score. Especially if he isn't driving.

[dude1394]

Well what I've witnessed in the three games I've seen is that they are playing better defense, but the offense is not going to be the thing of beauty at all that we've come to expect. They look best when they are helter-skelter running the floor and taking shots early in the shot clock. That's not what avery wants, but the half-court stuff really looks forced and out of whack to me.

But since [sarcasm]defense wins championships[/sarcasm] we'll have to expect some of that. However watching the amount of movement that detroit got out of their offense made me jealous. It just doesn't seem free-flowing right now.

so what if Avery can ONLY caoch defense and is an offensive idiot?

[MavsFanFinley]

Podkolzin sidelined with stress fracture

October 28, 2005

DALLAS (AP) -- Dallas Mavericks center Pavel Podkolzin could miss up to four months after a stress fracture was discovered in his right foot.

Podkolzin, traded to Dallas after Utah selected him 21st overall in the 2004 draft, is scheduled to have surgery next week.

The 7-foot-5 native of Russia played in just five games last season and made just one preseason appearance this month.

[twelli]

Originally posted by: FilthyFinMavs
Not sure how he did when he played for Germany.

He was awesome. Based on his play in the Euro Championships he will be great as leader, as scorer, as clutch player...

I am very optimistic this season. This could be the year everything comes together and the Mavs go all the way. If not this year I am worried that soon the LeBron dynasty starts and Dirk will end up like Malone...

[chumdawg]

Sorry to hear about Pavel.

Dude, you raise an interesting question, about whether AJ can design a coach an efficient offensive system. But hey, what if the guy can't really do it on defense either? I mean, he does say all the right things, sure. But really and truly, there is no body of evidence that *proves* he can even coach defense, when it comes to that.

Now, it does help your defense when you go out and get defensive-minded players, you would think, even if nothing else changes. And yes, it helps the defense when you spend more time on it in practice, when you make it a priority. But I'm just saying: it's not as though we have gone out and hired a proven defensive wizard. That we know of.

Perhaps AJ will indeed be that. I'm certainly willing to give him the benefit of the doubt, and I'm nowhere close yet to a judgment one way or the other. (Give it till the All-Star break or so.) But the proof is in the pudding, and we haven't started cooking yet.

[Thespiralgoeson]

Originally posted by: twelli
This could be the year everything comes together and the Mavs go all the way. If not this year I am worried that soon the LeBron dynasty starts and Dirk will end up like Malone...

[img]i/expressions/anim_roller.gif[/img] Twelli, LeBron's a phenom, we all know that... but let's let him make the playoffs first before we talk about a dynasty in Cleveland... MJ was in the NBA seven years before he won a title. The Cavs were a crappy team last season and Larry Hughes probably turns them into a second-tier team. The East has Indiana, Detroit, and Miami... three teams that I can't see the Cavs getting past anytime in the next two, maybe three years assuming those teams don't get split up.

[endtroducing]

what's wrong with depending on your sixth man, a former 29 ppg guy, to score?